In the FIFA World Rankings, Malaysia's highest standing was in the first release of the figures, in August 1993, at 75th. Malaysia's main rival on the international stage are their geographical neighbours, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore, and past matches between these three teams have produced much drama.

The Harimau Malaya nickname have been used since the former Malaya national football team. The nickname refer to the national animal of Malaysia, the Malayan tiger.[4] Another source stated the name was believed to have been derived from a Malayan football player from Stulang Laut, Johor named Abdullah Mohd Don (Dollah Don) after he been called as "Harimau Malaya" by the founding father of Indonesia, Sukarno when managed to chasing his team lost of 0–3 against an Indonesian football club by scoring hat-trick in a match between Singaporean Malay Club and Peseja (Persija Jakarta) in 1953.[5][6]

Although the Federation of Malaysia have been formed on 16 September 1963, the name are still being maintained for the national squad, thus there is some debate as most Malaysian in the East felt the "Malaya" term does not cover the whole country.[7] Some supporters in the East felt offended when the media in the West Malaysia keep continuously using the term even some in the West said it is just a small matter and the naming issue had been politicised as the term "Malayan tiger" came from an endangered endemic tiger subspecies in Malay Peninsula rather than a geopolitical reason.[8][9][10]

As part of rebranding of the national football team by FAM from 2 February 2016 onward, the nickname Harimau Malaya was officially changed to Harimau Malaysia in a bid to be more inclusive especially to the East Malaysian sides.[11][12] The Harimau Malaysia nickname was also used to refer the former national player, Shaharuddin Abdullah. Since the 1970s, he was known as "Harimau Malaysia" by the football fans due to his ability to score many goals. He once scored 15 goals for Malaysia in the Merdeka Cup tournament which stood as a record for years.[13]

However, after a recent changes during FAM congress in March 2017, a drastic measures has been taken to restructure all aspect of national football organisation and management.[14] This include the restoration of the old nickname (from the current nickname of Malaysian tiger which just used for a year)[15] starting from 3 April 2017.[1] The sudden changes has also affected all related websites and social media regarding the previous name which has since been indefinitely terminated.[1]

The winner of the first season of Borneo Cup in 1962, North Borneo football team, one year before the merger to form Malaysia.

The beginning of Malaysia football team match took place in Merdeka Stadium on 8 August 1963 with the combined strength of Singapore and Malaya (although the federation was only existed after 16 September 1963). With the combined forces of Malaya and Singapore, the team start their match with Japan, thought lost 3–4.[17] The team continued to use combination of players from Singapore and Malay Peninsula until the formation of the Malaysian Federation and ended when Singapore's separated from Malaysia in 1965. Since then the squad was only represented by West Malaysian players, mainly due to difficulties of that time to travel to East Malaysia and the players were not well known to mainstream West Malaysian football.

In 1971, James Wong of Sabah is the first player from East Malaysia to represent the country.[18][19] Malaysia qualified for the 1972 Olympics in Munich, beating Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines along the way. Although they managed to defeat the United States 3–0, they lost the other 2 matches with a score of 0–3 to West Germany and 0–6 to Morocco, ranking 10th in the final standings. From 1972, Mokhtar Dahari is considered as the legend footballer for the Malaysian team as he booked his place as one of the best players in Asia.[20] He manage to score 175 goals, of which the 175 goals for Selangor FA, 20 goals in 13 appearances for Kwong Yik Bank and another 125 goals for the national team, giving a total of 320 goals in his career.[21][22]

Malaysia participated the 1976 AFC Asian Cup for the first time, meeting Kuwait and China. During the tournament, Malaysia performed worse in the first match, losing 0–2 to Kuwait but managed to held China 1–1 in the second match.

Malaysia participated the 1980 AFC Asian Cup for the second time, meeting South Korea, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. During the tournament, Malaysia managed to held South Korea 1–1 in the first match, despite losing 1–3 to Kuwait before regaining a 2–0 victory against United Arab Emirates and holding Qatar 1–1 in their last match.

In 1994, Malaysian football was embroiled in one of the largest bribery scandals in the country.[29][30] With the dearth of mainstream interest and lack of funds, Malaysian football has failed to repeat the achievements of the 1970s and 1980s, despite the recruitment of Claude LeRoy. Allan Harris appointed as a new head coach in 2001. Harris came with strong credentials, having assisted Terry Venables at FC Barcelona. In the second half of 2004, FAM appoint Bertalan Bicskei, former Hungarian goalkeeper and national coach, to succeed Allan Harris. Bicskei led the national side to third place at the regional Tiger Cup tournament, but was demoted to youth development duties by FAM for his actions during a friendly against Singapore in Penang on 8 June 2005. Bicskei, disgusted by the standard of officiating, threw a bottle onto the pitch before confronting a Singapore player. In September 2005, his contract was terminated after a mutual agreement.[31]

Norizan Bakar became the next head coach of the Malaysian team. He guided the Malaysian squad to the 2007 AFF Championship semifinals in 2007, where Malaysia lost through penalties to Singapore. Norizan's position as the head coach was criticised by the Malaysian football community, fans and officials alike, after the team's performances during the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, where Malaysia lost to China 1–5, Uzbekistan 0–5 and Iran 0–2. After the removal of Norizan Bakar, B. Sathianathan took over as head coach. Although he guided the squad to win the 2007 Merdeka Tournament, Malaysia once again failed to qualify for the World Cup after losing 1–4 and drawing 0–0 with Bahrain in the qualifying round. In March 2008, Sathianathan once again reach the final of the Merdeka Tournament. However, Malaysia lost on penalties to Vietnam. Sathianathan also led Malaysia to the semi finals of the 2008 Myanmar Grand Royal Challenge Cup. However, Malaysia then shockingly lost 1–4 to eventual winners, Myanmar.[32]

During the 2008 AFF Championship, Malaysia started their campaign with a 3–0 win over Laos, but were defeated in the second match by Vietnam with a score of 2–3 and were finally eliminated when they lost 0–3 to Thailand in the final match of the group stage. This was the first time that the Malaysian squad had not passed through the group stages in 12 years. There are also reports that match-fixing and bribery that infiltrate the Malaysian football in the 1994 are returned.[33] In the 2011 Asian Cup qualifiers, the Malaysian team lost 0–5 to the United Arab Emirates. This defeat was the final straw in the eyes of Malaysian supporters, and in February 2009, the contracts of Sathianathan and manager Soh Chin Aun were terminated.[34]

In April 2009, K. Rajagopal was named the new coach of Malaysia replacing B. Sathianathan as head coach of Malaysia. He took over the position in July 2009, of which he also the coach of the Malaysia Under-23 squad.[36] Rajagopal's first match was against Zimbabwe, which Malaysia won 4–0.[37] Rajagopal also coached Malaysia in two games against visiting English champions, Manchester United, losing both matches 2–3 and 0–2. During his time as the coach of the Under-23 team, Rajagopal led Malaysia to their fifth SEA Games gold medal and also led Malaysia to qualify for the second round of the 2010 Asian Games as one of the best four third-placed teams after a lapse of 32 years.[38][39]

During the 2010 AFF Championship, Malaysia had 14 players that were under the age of 23 while the other players were over 23. Malaysia were in group A with host Indonesia, Thailand and qualifiers winner, Laos. Malaysia began their campaign with an embarrassing 1–5 loss to Indonesia. Malaysia bounced back from their defeat and later drew with Thailand and beat Laos 5–1. As runner up of group, Malaysia qualified for the semi finals to meet Group B winners and defending champions Vietnam. In the first leg of the semifinal, Malaysia won 2–0 on home soil and later drew 0–0 in the second leg, advancing to the final with an aggregate of 2–0.[40] In the finals, Malaysia met favourites Indonesia, who were unbeaten in all their matches.

On the first leg of the finals, Malaysia won 3–0 at home. Malaysia scored twice through Safee Sali and once through Mohd Ashaari Shamsuddin on a night when Bukit Jalil National Stadium was filled over capacity for the first time since it was built. The match attracted so many people that after tickets were sold out, policemen manning the gates were seen allowing friends and relatives into the stadium, causing people having to trespass onto the cable bridge above the electronic display besides standing on the aisles and corridors to view the game. On the second leg of the finals that was held in Jakarta, Malaysia lost 1–2 to Indonesia but the final aggregate was 4–2 to Malaysia, thus Malaysia were awarded the title. It was the first time in history that Malaysia were crowned the champions of AFF Championship and a trophy in the international stage.[41]

Since the 2010s, the expectations to regain their success in the 1980s are rising despite the team still failed to deliver any new high achievements records.[42] In June 2014, Dollah Salleh replaced Rajagobal as the head coach after his contract has ended.[43] Dollah guiding Malaysia to the final of the 2014 AFF Championship but failed to replicate the same form as the previous head coach. In international fixtures, the coach has also recorded a lose of 0–6 to Oman and Palestine as well as 1–1 draw against Timor-Leste. However, the 0–10 defeat to the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia worst ever defeat in 50 years, have prompted his resignation as the head coach.[44] The place was taken by interim coach Ong Kim Swee who later promoted as the head coach until the end of March 2017.[45] The official coaching post then was taken over by Portuguese coach Nelo Vingada in the hope to raise the Malaysian football performances. On 13 June, Malaysia played their first match in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification against Lebanon. Despite having a 1–0 lead during the first half, they eventually lost the match with a score 1–2.[46] Malaysia's poor performance however, continued. Despite given high hope and expectation from the match against Hong Kong, Malaysia only managed a 1–1 draw, before losing to the same team 0–2 in Hong Kong. As for the result, frustration happened in the team and Malaysia had suffered two consecutive defeats on the hand of North Korea, both ended 1–4. Malaysia also losing the second final matches against Lebanon in Beirut by 1–2. With only 1 draw and 5 defeats, Malaysia subsequently eliminated from the qualification.[47]

From the 1970s to 2007, the national team kit was manufactured by Adidas, who also sponsored the national team kit. Since 2007, the official Malaysia team kit is manufactured by Nike. The home kit design of black and yellow stripes is a throwback to the kit used by Malayan national team in the 1920s. The great national team of the 1970s also sported similar stripes, which are supposed to be reminiscent of the stripes of a tiger, the symbol of Malaysia's national football team.

In November 2010, Nike Malaysia created a new football kit for the Malaysians specially made for the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup. The home kit's design of black and yellow stripes is shaped by a black row of lines. The away kit features a plain blue front and red and white at the edge of the sleeves. Nike used the Malaysian flag as their logo instead of putting the Football Association of Malaysia logo to remembering the team success in the 1970s.[49] On the underside of the flag, the quote "Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku" (The land that I spill my blood for) can be found. The quote is part of the Malaysia National Anthem, alluding that they are doing their best for the country.

The practice of using the flag on the kits ended when Malaysia got a new kit in late 2016. They have the FAM logo on the kits.

Wisma FAM is the main headquarters for the Football Association of Malaysia which located at Kelana Jaya, Malaysia. The training facility for the Malaysia national football team also located at the Wisma FAM. Others than that, it also serves as a meeting point for the coaches and national players. Also equipped with a room for press statement and small apartment rooms available for the national players during the training camp. Sometimes, ticket matches also sold on this training facility.

A part of the action from Ultras Malaya during the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification match between Malaysia and Singapore.

Ultras Malaya is the name of the major supporters for the national team in Malaysia. They are known for their high fanaticism and support towards the national team. Even in every international match the national team played, they will be found in a group standing at the supporters area. The main colours for these supporter are usually in black with a yellow scarf and banners just like the national team kits colours. These supporters always bring flares, drums and large national flags to the stadiums.[51]

^Peter Sibon (6 December 2012). "Harimau Malaya – where is East M'sia in the national team?". The Borneo Post. Archived from the original on 29 March 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2014. Rubbing salt to injury when Malaysia lost to Singapore, the national media and football pundits avoided using Harimau Malaya when referring to the national team preferring to refer the team as Malaysia. Perhaps they thought it was allright to include Sarawak and Sabah when the going got rough. But when Malaysia beat Indonesia last Saturday night, the national newspapers went to town with the triumph of Harimau Malaya – when the going is good it seems there is no room for the East Malaysian states.